Gunmen, on Wednesday, attacked the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Lokoja, Kogi state, and disrupted a COVID-19 press conference.
The hospital had scheduled a media briefing for the day to demand a COVID-19 screening centre in the state and to also speak about the challenges health workers are facing with regard to the disease.
The armed men were said to have arrived at the facility in three vehicles and shot sporadically to disperse the meeting.
Health workers were said to have been harassed by the gunmen who took away laptops and vital documents.
They were also said to have stolen blood samples of patients from the hospital laboratory. They ransacked the Medical Director’s office, too.
Speaking at a prayer session for the late Nasir Ajana, Kogi Chief Judge, on Tuesday, Governor Yahaya Bello had said COVID-19 was a hoax “created to shorten the lifestyle of the people”.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has so far announced three cases of COVID-19 in Kogi, but the state government has insisted that the state is free of the disease.
